The United Nations Security Council will vote on Friday on a U.S. and Chinese proposal to blacklist more North Korean individuals and entities after the country's repeated ballistic missile launches, diplomats said on Thursday. The draft resolution, seen by Reuters, would sanction four entities, including the Koryo Bank and Strategic Rocket Force of the Korean People's Army, and 14 people, including Cho Il U, who is believed to head North Korea's overseas spying operations.

South Korea and the US’s tentative agreement to hold a summit in Washington as early as the end of June appears to mean that both sides recognize the need to fill the gap in summit diplomacy, created by the impeachment of former president Park Geun-hye, as soon as possible. At the same time, the Blue House also seems determined to quickly dispel US concerns about South Korea’s new president, Moon Jae-in.

Speaking during his formal oath-taking ceremony on Wednesday, Moon pledged to work for peace on the Korean Peninsula amid growing worry over the North's expanding nuclear weapons and missiles programme. "I am willing to go anywhere for the peace of the Korean Peninsula," Moon said. "If needed, I will fly immediately to Washington. I will go to Beijing and I will go to Tokyo. If the conditions shape up, I will go to Pyongyang."